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CNN This Morning
Trump Says Israel Has to 'Make a Decision' in Gaza as Hunger Grows; Trump Order Bans Government from Using 'Woke' A.I. Technology. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired July 28, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
M.J. LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Stockwell beat more than 100 other look-alikes to win the top prize. The Hemingway Look-Alike Society says it uses the event to raise money for its scholarship program, as a way to honor the writer's generous spirit.
[06:00:14]
And thank you so much for joining us here on EARLY START today. I'm M.J. Lee in Washington, D.C., and CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: People dying of hunger in Gaza, according to the Palestinians. Is President Trump the only man in the world who can put a stop to it?
CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.
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CORNISH: Israel begins allowing in a trickle of aid. But humanitarian groups say it's not enough.
The president says he just brokered the biggest trade deal ever. Will the U.S. economy continue to endure Trump's trade war? We'll get crucial signs in the coming days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There! (ph) (UNINTELLIGIBLE), big guy. You're a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) bad guy.
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CORNISH: A random attack. Nearly a dozen people stabbed at a Walmart in Michigan. How bystanders stopped the attackers.
And passengers scramble off a plane using the emergency slides. What some say they heard before the cabin filled with smoke.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: The American people do not want woke Marxist lunacy in the A.I. models.
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CORNISH: Can A.I. actually be woke? Don't ask a chatbot. You might get a biased answer.
It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. A beautiful sunrise in New York City. Good morning, everybody. It's Monday, July 28th. I want to thank you for waking up with me. I'm Audie Cornish, and this is CNN THIS MORNING.
Now, in just about an hour, President Trump is set to sit down with another high-profile leader, this time, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The two hope to put the finishing touches on a trade agreement between the U.S. and U.K., one day after President Trump announced what he described as the biggest deal ever with the European Union.
But trade won't be the only topic on the agenda. The prime minister is also expected to bring up Gaza and the growing international concerns over starvation there.
Airdrops of aid resumed in Gaza over the weekend, but experts warn it's not enough to supply the war-torn region. Israel's prime minister, though, insists aid has been there all along.
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NETANYAHU: There is no starvation in Gaza. We enable humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza. Otherwise, there would be no Gazans.
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CORNISH: President Trump seems to be suggesting the decision over what to do is out of his hands.
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TRUMP: Israel is going to have to make a decision. I know what I do, but I don't think it's appropriate that I say. But Israel is going to have to make a decision.
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CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Stephen Collinson, CNN politics senior reporter; Jerusalem Demsas, contributing writer at "The Atlantic"; and Jackie Kucinich, CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for "The Boston Globe."
Good morning to all of you guys.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
CORNISH: Thank you for being here.
So, Stephen, I want to start with you on this topic, because you've written a lot about how Trump has flexed his power, not just domestically, but also against other world leaders. And we know he has, in times, done that with Netanyahu. What do you think is going on in this moment?
COLLINSON: Yes, it's very interesting. Let's just stipulate, to start with, that Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, is quite happy to use its own people as a bargaining chip. We've seen this.
So, the scenes of malnutrition in Gaza, which are putting pressure on Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, alienating him further from the international community. That's something that they're prepared to see.
That said, people dying in hospitals, children, because they've got a lack of food. The question of who is to blame for this is kind of irrelevant to these people. And the scenes we're seeing there. This is a humanitarian issue.
It's interesting that the president so far hasn't seen fit to intervene more strongly, to put more pressure on Netanyahu to let more food in, because 100 aid trucks, a few aid corridors are not going to be enough to alleviate what is, in effect, whoever is to blame, a man- made famine.
CORNISH: Yes. And CNN's Paula Hancocks writes about this dynamic between Trump and the Israeli prime minister when she said that the president was publicly scathing of Netanyahu when Israel struck Iran in the final hours of the -- of the ceasefire. After a phone call, Israel pulled back.
[06:05:03]
And when Israel struck the only Catholic church in Gaza, Trump did not have a positive reaction. The White House made sure we knew that he called Netanyahu. And the Israeli leader said he deeply regretted it, calling the strike a mistake.
So, I think the thing people are always putting pressure on U.S. presidents is, if you have leverage, why not use it? When you don't, what are the reasons?
What are you thinking as you're watching this play out, Jerusalem?
JERUSALEM DEMSAS, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": Yes, I mean, this is the perennial problem with -- for presidents that want to reduce their impact on foreign policy.
Like, Trump doesn't want America to be playing around in a bunch of different global areas. And doesn't want to be playing out in wars, doesn't want to be engaging on trade. He doesn't want -- he does not want foreign entanglements to be a part of his presidency.
And as a result, I mean, his goal is to no longer be seen as responsible for what's going on in Israel, even though he clearly does have a lot of power over what goes on there, partially because of the money we give to ensure their -- the Iron Dorm [SIC] -- Dome.
CORNISH: And domestic support there, right?
DEMSAS: Domestic support, for sure.
CORNISH: Israeli politics, Trump is a popular figure.
DEMSAS: Exactly. And I mean, so there's a lot that he can do there. But it's really kind of antithetical to his worldview and his perspective that America has been too involved in the Middle East in particular, but in global affairs, writ large.
CORNISH: Here's what the president did say about Gaza, and when he was talking about it, there was also the British prime minister responded when he was asked about it. Let's see if we have that here.
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KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The appalling scenes in Gaza are unrelenting, and I know the British people are sickened by what is happening.
The images of starvation and desperation are utterly horrifying. The denial of aid to children and to babies is completely unjustifiable.
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CORNISH: I don't know who wants to take that one, but it means he's going into a meeting with someone who's saying, this is unjustifiable, despite as people talk about very validly, about Hamas's role in this.
Jackie, how are you seeing how the president is handling it?
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think you just have to listen to his words. He keeps on just putting it on Israel and not seeming like he is an actor in all of this.
Saying that I know what I would do, but I don't know what they're going to do. And Israel has a decision to make, which he said a few days ago.
He does -- as Jerusalem was saying, he doesn't want a part in these foreign entanglements, but they keep on finding him. And what will push his hand? I don't -- I don't know the answer to that.
Because right now, the talks are stalled. The U.S. has pulled back. And will -- is a humanitarian crisis something that would pull him back in? That's not usually something that the president responds to. Usually, it's something else.
But we'll have to wait and see on this one.
CORNISH: Stephen, can I ask you one more thing, which is that you have France trying to recognize Palestine. I don't know if other countries are going to try and do that, try and recognize it as officially. And I ask that because what else can other people do, right, other than the U.S.?
COLLINSON: Right. The French move probably isn't going to change the facts on the ground, because effectively, there isn't a Palestinian state. And one of the reasons for that is Israel's policy in the West Bank and Gaza.
I think you're right. It is a show of impotency, I think, by the rest of the world. And they now have a U.S. president who they find it much harder to influence.
You know, the president has shown that, right now, it doesn't seem that he's that worried about the plight of the people of Gaza. You know, he was talking about the Riviera in the Middle East, driving people out of Gaza to create some kind of holiday resort earlier in this conflict. So, that isn't weighing on him.
That said, back in 2017, during -- after a chemical weapons attack in Syria, the president was shown pictures of suffering children. That did sway his mind. So, people that want to influence this perhaps try and need to get some of that footage in front of him.
CORNISH: We'll see if they --
DEMSAS: The one thing I'll add, too, is Netanyahu says that, you know, well, I mean, first, of course, verifiably false idea that -- that there's no starving in Gaza. But also, it's very clear that there was a policy change by the Israelis around how aid is distributed in Gaza. It used to be that --
CORNISH: Yes. And we're going to talk about that today. Right.
DEMSAS: Yes.
CORNISH: They created their own sort of agency to do so.
DEMSAS: Exactly.
CORNISH: And we've seen multiple deaths as a result. Some violence around those aid sites.
I want you guys to stay with me because, like I said, we're going to talk about this some more later.
Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, President Trump picking a fight with the beehive. Why he wants Beyonce to be prosecuted.
And Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's coconspirator, wants her conviction overturned. But will the Supreme Court take up her case?
And planks, pull-ups and pumping iron. Can the new strategy by some Democrats win back male voters?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome to round one of reps and real talk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Folks running on what I see out there. Are they too weak or too corrupt?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the weight on this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three-fifteen.
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CORNISH: It's now 14 minutes past the hour. And here is your morning roundup.
Later today, Ghislaine Maxwell's attorneys are expected to make their final pitch to the Supreme Court to overturn her 20-year conviction.
Previously, she had asked the courts to review that conviction, claiming she was covered by a non-prosecution agreement Epstein had struck with federal prosecutors in 2007.
The Department of Justice is urging the Supreme Court to drop the case.
And an investigation underway this morning into what caused the landing gear to catch fire while an American Airlines jet was taking off in Denver. Everyone on the plane had to be evacuated using emergency slides.
Passengers say they heard a loud bang right before the plane started vibrating.
And a historic win for NASCAR's Bubba Wallace. Over the weekend, he became the first driver [SIC] to win a major race on the Indianapolis motor speedway. No black driver has ever won the Brickyard 400, Indianapolis 500, or Formula One event there until now.
And he had this message for everyone who said he couldn't win again.
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BUBBA WALLACE, NASCAR DRIVER: How many days since my last win? That's right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One hundred since his last win. And --
WALLACE: Zero.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Zero. Yes. Now it's zero.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You almost have to sit down, because you're going to pass out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: This is Wallace's first victory since 2022.
And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, can artificial intelligence be woke? President Trump thinks so. And companies like Microsoft and Google are taking notice.
And the unconditional gift the Trump administration just accepted from the government of Qatar.
And live look of the sun rising over Raleigh, North Carolina, this morning. It's going to be a hot one today. Temperatures could reach 115 degrees there. Stay safe.
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CORNISH: So, can A.I. be woke? The answer to that question is complicated. Of course, if you ask Google's Gemini, as we did, the answer is no. A.I. "cannot be 'woke' in the way humans are. A.I. models are not sentient beings with personal beliefs or political ideologies."
Well, President Trump disagrees. His latest executive order is all about preventing woke A.I. in the federal government.
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TRUMP: I will be signing an order banning the federal government from procuring A.I. technology that has been infused with partisan bias, or ideological agendas such as critical race theory, which is ridiculous.
And from now on, the U.S. government will deal only with A.I. that pursues truth, fairness, and strict impartiality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: That order marks the first time the U.S. government has explicitly tried to shape the ideological behavior of artificial intelligence.
Joining me now to discuss Lisa Eadicicco, tech editor for CNN Business. Good morning. Welcome to the program.
LISA EADICICCO, TECH EDITOR, CNN BUSINESS: Good morning. Thanks for having me.
CORNISH: So, I want to talk about this fight, because I know the sort of version of social media of the -- the last decade or so, there was a fight about content moderation, right? What's in your Facebook feed? That sort of thing.
What is different about what they want out of the A.I. models?
EADICICCO: Yes, so this is different. But there are some parallels, as you mentioned, because a lot of people are using A.I. right now to get their information and to share information and to communicate and work.
And it really is kind of impacting everyday life, sort of in the way that social media did.
But this is a bit different, because this is an effort, it seems, to kind of really kind of provide guidelines and rules around how these models should be responding to information and queries that consumers ask.
Now, again, this is applying to A.I. models that are used for the federal government. So, we don't know if or how that's going to impact the way A.I. acts outside of the government. That's one of the big questions that I think we're certainly looking to get answers to.
CORNISH: How are A.I. models trained? I was under the impression that there was a certain amount of content moderation they did. They hired people in other countries to do that first layer. And now what we're seeing, what would they even mean by unbiased or truth-seeking? Are there any definitions to those terms?
EADICICCO: Yes. So, the way A.I. -- A.I. models are trained is they're trained on information on the Internet, largely; information that's put out there by humans.
While yes, you know, Google's Gemini was right that these A.I. models do not have their own personal beliefs, they are trained on data out there, largely written by people that do have personal beliefs.
And then from there, there's kind of this feedback process that happens, where humans rate the answers and assess whether the answers to the prompts that have been given are satisfactory or not, or whether they have bias in them.
And as far as the definitions go, there were -- there was some information in the executive order about what those terms mean, like truth-seeking, for example. The executive order says that it should prioritize historical accuracy and scientific inquiry and factors like that.
And for the biased part, the -- the fact that A.I. models should be free of -- of partisan bias, it says that these models should not kind of manipulate their answers in favor of DEI.
But those are still really vague terms. And I think that's going to make it hard for something like this to be enforced, because we don't know exactly how they're going to evaluate whether these A.I. models and the output from these A.I. models actually, like, live up to those principles, so to speak.
CORNISH: Congress basically rejected the -- the push in the Big, Beautiful Bill to have A.I. unregulated by states for a decade. Is this an attempt by the White House to kind of get around that, or to have their own influence on the business? EADICICCO: I definitely think there's a desire by the White House to
have an influence on A.I., and especially how it's being packaged and kind of exported to different countries.
In terms of regulation, I think that there's still -- there's still this big question of how to regulate A.I.
And ten years is a very long time in the A.I. industry. Things change in a matter of weeks and months. But there is also a real concern here that not enough regulation means that these tech companies might not be held accountable if their systems do malfunction.
And again, this is still a relatively new area. There are still new issues and new concerns that arise all the time, and there needs to be some regulation and accountability.
But at the same time, it's clear that the White House really wants American companies, American tech companies, to be able to move quickly and to kind of remove any roadblocks to innovation.
[06:25:09]
So, I do think Silicon Valley will likely be pretty happy about that element of the A.I. action plan.
CORNISH: All right. Lisa Eadicicco, thank you.
EADICICCO: Thank you.
CORNISH: All right. After the break on CNN THIS MORNING, a man goes on a stabbing spree inside a Michigan Walmart. How bystanders used a grocery cart to stop the suspect.
And with a ticking clock, President Trump is looking to make a deal. In the next hour, he meets with the U.K.'s prime minister.
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